What Xopus is not

and what it clearly is

There seems to be a tendency to mix up what it means to be an XML editor. As such Xopus is easily confused with other kinds of systems that Xopus surely has affinity with. Xopus however, as an XML editor, has a different approach to words like structure, style, friendliness, and flexibilty.

CMS

Xopus is not a Content Management System, but it can support them in the editing of XML. Xopus doesn't have database-drivers, or a database for that matter. Xopus can be applied to make XML editable in a database, either in an XML view, or a special WYSIWYG - not defined by Xopus - editor-view. Xopus doesn't mingle in the the management of content. A CMS manages content, and can use Xopus to make changes.

And if Xopus was a CMS, it probably wouldn't fit your XML that well, and you would have to suit it to Xopus, rather than that it would suit you.

HTML editor

Xopus is not a HTML editor. HTML editors focus purely on the editing of web-pages, whereas Xopus focuses on editing XML, which can in turn, be used to create HTML. Of course Xopus can be used to edit HTML which is defined as XML, but this just refers to the validity of the HTML as XML. Xopus always needs a Schema (XSD) file which defines the possibilities and limits of the XML. HTML editors will, as a rule, only create HTML, but in this case the editor itself is restricting what is possible.

For example, in HTML there is no visible difference between <br/> and <p>, and so if you store your information with both tags, you run into trouble when printing. Xopus can dissallow the break (<br/>, giving you perfect 'paragraphs', or it can format them by any other name.

You wouldn't want Xopus to be an HTML editor though. The format for HTML is limited to the standard of HTML, whereas the format of XML is endless; it is up to you to define it, and then you can leave it up to Xopus to edit it, and to keep it in your format.

Word

Even though the ease of use of an editor like Word is admirable, Xopus is more bound by rules for the XML. This might make it a little less easy to use, because it cannot always allow the user to do what they can do in Word, but in the end creates content that is much more structured and therefore re-usable. Xopus doesn't allow you to walk outside of the format, and secretly add a title here and there.

So if Xopus was Word, you'd still be stuck with a mess on your hands if you wanted to use the information somewhere else. Keeping your information in XML makes sure that you can use it all around, and editing it with Xopus keeps it all nicely structured and tidy.

Set in stone

With a clearly defined API, Xopus can be built on and extended to suit which-ever are the user's need. More so, because users can use their own XSL stylesheets to draw up the XML within the editor, Xopus is hardly a tough byte to understand. To be clear on this topic: Xopus is mostly Javascript, but for users it will just be what they are used to. So it can even be made to act like word, although without the strange mix-up in styles.

And be glad that Xopus isn't the mother of all XML editors, but just your friend in editing your XML. As such you can build on it, change it, customize it, and it will never tell you how to do what you are doing. It will only guide you in making the content that is needed.

Like others

Xopus mainly does what others don't. As such Xopus supports Rich-content paste, without copying the mess, and uses Schema to make the XML valid, which is an increasingly interesting feature in a world full of standards and with a need for structure. Neither will Xopus give you a cold shoulder, but it tries to help, support and guide you as friendly as possible in creating the content that you were meant to make.